What happened
On September 14, 2026, the Government Accountability Office publicly released K-12 Education: Facility Issues Led About One in Five Districts to Cancel School in 2024-25, Affecting 2 Million Students (GAO-26-107970). The report was requested by Senator Tammy Baldwin, ranking member of the Senate appropriations subcommittee that covers education, and Senator Jack Reed. GAO surveyed a nationally representative sample of 735 school districts from November 2025 to January 2026, received 427 responses for a 62 percent weighted response rate, visited nine districts in Alabama, Maine and Oregon, and reviewed state reports from 2016 through 2026.
The central estimate: 19 percent of districts canceled school at least once in the 2024-25 school year because of a facilities issue. Those cancellations affected an estimated 2 million students, who lost about 3.5 million days of learning. GAO's confidence intervals run from 1.5 to 2.4 million students and from 2.5 to 4.5 million days. The most frequent causes were plumbing, electrical and classroom temperature problems. One district GAO visited canceled school after classroom temperatures reached 110 degrees.
Cancellations were only the visible part. About 12 percent of districts moved learning online in at least one school because of facility issues, and an estimated 10 percent canceled classes that were never made up. GAO found that 47 percent of districts had chronic facility issues, led by water intrusion and excessive heat or cold in classrooms, followed by plumbing, ventilation and structural problems. About 14 percent of schools nationwide were in poor or very poor condition.
Weather is part of the story. GAO estimated that one in five facility-related cancellations was precipitated by severe weather or a natural disaster, with interior flooding and hurricane roof damage among the examples.
Why it matters
The report reads like a maintenance audit, but its findings are about resilience. A school that closes because a water main breaks or a cooling system fails during a heat wave is a public facility that could not keep performing its mission. Where a school also serves as an emergency shelter or community site, a building that cannot hold class may not be able to serve that role either.
GAO links the problem to maintenance capacity. Roughly one in five districts had limited or no capacity to conduct preventive maintenance on recommended schedules, and those districts reported more chronic problems and more disruptions to instruction. Fifty-five percent of districts considered their most recent facilities budget insufficient. GAO noted that investing in preventive maintenance can help districts improve facility conditions and save money over time, and Facilities Dive reported that one district's utility monitoring system saved hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
The capital side is harder. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures cited by GAO, new school building construction costs rose 58 percent between January 2016 and January 2026, and 82 percent of districts named high construction costs as a barrier. An estimated 48 percent of districts had not attempted to pass a bond in the past five years, and 96 percent of those districts had unmet capital needs. A low local tax base hindered efforts to fund facility needs in about 55 percent of districts, with the highest rate among rural districts. Limited state formula funding was cited by 73 percent, and a lack of federal grant and loan opportunities by 61 percent.
The most common capital needs districts reported included safety and security (75 percent), replacing major building systems (70 percent), replacing interior fixtures, furniture or equipment (69 percent) and replacing roofs (67 percent). Roofs and major building systems are also what keep water out and classrooms usable when weather turns severe.
GAO made no formal recommendations, and the Department of Education had no comments on the report. Instead, GAO described state practices that district officials and stakeholders found helpful: dedicated revenue sources for facilities, incentives for bonds and preventive maintenance, facility condition assessments, technical assistance, and streamlined capital project processes. It also noted the federal Supporting America's School Infrastructure program, which in 2023 awarded about $37 million in five-year grants to seven states and one territory to build state capacity to help high-need districts improve their facilities.
Questions to ask local officials
| Ask | Who usually answers | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| How many school days did our district lose to facility problems in 2024-25 and 2025-26, and were they made up? | Superintendent, facilities director | An estimated 10 percent of districts canceled classes that were never made up |
| When was our last facility condition assessment, and which schools rated poor? | Facilities director, school board | About 14 percent of schools nationally were in poor or very poor condition |
| Do we have the staff and budget to keep preventive maintenance on schedule? | Facilities director, business manager | Districts without that capacity reported more chronic problems |
| Which buildings have recurring water intrusion, plumbing or cooling failures? | Facilities director | These were the leading chronic issues and causes of cancellations |
| How old are our roofs and major building systems, and what would replacing them cost? | Facilities director, finance office | Roofs and major systems were among the most common capital needs |
| Is a bond or other capital plan in place, and when was one last put to voters? | School board, business manager | 48 percent of districts had not attempted a bond in five years |
| Which schools double as shelters or emergency sites, and are they ready for that role? | Emergency management, district leadership | One in five cancellations followed severe weather or a natural disaster |
For districts weighing whether to repair, upgrade or replace aging buildings, the brief on retrofit pathways for public buildings looks at how to phase protective work into ordinary maintenance.